Turning Assistive Machines into Assistive Robots

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Abstract

For decades, the potential for automation—in particular, in the form of smart wheelchairs—to aid those with motor or cognitive impairments, has been recognized. It is a paradox that often the more severe a person's motor impairment, the more challenging it is for them to operate the very assistive machines that might enhance their quality of life. A primary aim of my lab is to address this confound by incorporating robotics autonomy and intelligence into assistive machines—turning the machine into a kind of robot and offloading some of the control burden from the user. Robots already synthetically sense, act in and reason about the world, and these technologies can be leveraged to help bridge the gap left by sensory, motor, or cognitive impairments of the users of assistive machines. This talk will provide an overview of some of the ongoing projects in my lab, which strives to advance human ability through robotics autonomy.